Bikes on Broad +Exercise Parks

the big picture

bikes on broad

Currently, Pittsburgh’s bike map avoids Garfield. While routes on Bike Pittsburgh’s maps are only suggested, it’s unlikely that bicyclists will choose a route not marked. Our goal should be to put Garfield on the map. How do we accomplish this? A permanent route, with a great bicycle and pedestrian environment could be planned. The street could be celebrated, in Ciclovia style, for everyone to enjoy on a weekly basis. What better location to make this happen than Broad Street? There are already plans underway to connect Broad Street from East Liberty all the way through Garfield.

exercise parks

China has got it right. Exercise equipment is dotted through the urban landscapes of dense Chinese cities available for everyone to use. Some are built on an entire block. Others are linear solutions, squeezed onto wide sidewalks, in forgotten places. Others are in parks. Every evening, adults and children, young and old, gather to use the facilities and stay fit and to socialize. Many locals commented on the lack of facilities for exercise, for families and for children in Garfield. Could the neighborhood try a free exercise gym like this?

one + two =

As part of their Issues of Practice class in the fall of 2011, a group of Carnegie Mellon architecture students (Keith Appleby, David Bradshaw, Mercedes Chaparro, and Sara Mingle) worked on an implementation plan for these two incentives. That work is excerpted here. Issues of Practice is one example of the community design collaborations of the Urban Design Build Studio – read more about UDBS here.

They have merged the two ideas into one which they’ve called Garfield Strong. Garfield Strong will tackle all 6 of our priorities:

garfield strong

Garfield Strong combines a bike lane with and four exercise parks along Broad Street in Garfield, which would become a linear park for the neighborhood. Since Broad Street will soon be rebuilt from Garfield through East Liberty, it also has the potential to create a through route for the neighborhood, making it more visible and open.

updates

We’ll update this page as plans continue to develop. You can help by sending us posting a comment or sending us an email. We’d like to hear your thoughts.
This project is part of cityLAB’s 6% Place – read more about the experiment and how Garfield Strong fits into the 6% Place here.